My Best Ever Christmas
by Alice.1993
Summary: There's hospital party and after everyone has met JD challenges everyone to think of their best ever Christmas. No real pairings.


**This is my Christmas story. Dr. Cox's flashback is a bit more depressing than I meant it to be, but it's not too bad. Reviews are love.**

**-----**

'Hiya guys,' JD said as he approached the nurse's station where Elliot, Turk and Carla were gathered talking amongst themselves, 'you up for the Christmas Party later?'

'Hell yeah!' Turk replied loudly,

'Yeah, Turk's making me go.' Carla replied, shooting evil looks at Turk.

'Nah.' Elliot said.

'What? Why?'

'Well I've had a bit of a crappy week. I just want to go home and have a relaxing evening, you know?'

'Yeah.' Carla nodded sympathetically.

'No!' JD yelled. 'Come on Elliot it'll be fun! Christmas music, Christmas decorations, Christmas costumes.'

'There you go, that's another reason; I don't have a costume.'

'I have a spare.' JD said

'You have a spare Christmas outfit?' Elliot said incredulously.

'Yeah. I think you'd look great as an elf.'

'JD. There is no way in hell I am going to a hospital Christmas party dressed as an elf.'

'Carla's going.'

'What are you going as Carla?'

'A reindeer.' Carla said moodily

'Baby, you ain't just going as any old reindeer, you're going as Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.' Turk argued.

'Great.' Carla deadpanned.

'See JD, Carla doesn't want to go.'

'But she _is_, and you should to.'

'JD. I do not want to go to a Christmas party with people who I have to work with every day dressed as an elf.'

'I don't see why not.'

'JD. Elf. People. Hospital. How are you not getting it?'

'Elliot. Everyone will be dressed up, no one's going to care.'

'Yeah, I'm going as a Christmas tree.' Turk commented

'And I'm going as Santa.' JD said, 'please come Elliot.'

'I still don't want to.'

'I promise tomorrow I'll come in wearing my Santa costume if you come.'

'That's something I want to see.'

'You'll come?' JD said excitedly

'I guess so, but only if you don't make any jokes about me in an elf costume.'

'Yes! This is going to be awesome!'

-----

'Oh my God. I can't believe I'm doing this.' Elliot moaned, looking down at her elf costume as she walked into the hospital.

'Relax Elliot. Everyone's dressing up.' JD said as he attempted to stop the pillow he'd shoved up the front of his costume from falling down.

'JD I look ridiculous. And that's not going to work.'

'No you don't you look like an elf, and yes it will. I can't be a skinny Santa.'

'Precisely, and no it won't, you'll just have to get over it.'

'You look amazing; you should go to North Pole and help me out. And I will be a fat Santa if it kills me OK?'

'Whatever.'

'Come on let's go in.'

They walked into the cafeteria and were greeted by the site of what must be every hospital employee dressed as something Christmas related, Christmas music was playing loudly through speakers and the entire cafeteria had been transformed. It was covered in tinsel, ribbons, glitter and mistletoe.

'Todd?' Elliot said in her freaked out high-pitched tone.

'Yeah?'

'Are you dressed as a chicken?'

'No. I'm dressed as a turkey, see turkey's are bigger just like my pe..'

'Todd if you finish that sentence with 'penis' I will brain you.'

Todd just nodded, bowed his head and walked away. JD immediately cracked up laughing, clutching his pillow stuffed belly.

'What?' Elliot asked as he continued to laugh, after he managed to control his laughter he said in the same tone as Elliot.

'Todd if you finish that sentence with 'penis' I will brain you.' And immediately cracked up laughing again.

Elliot just rolled her eyes and walked away into the crowd of dressed up personnel in an attempt to find Carla.

-----

Elliot spotted Doug, who was wearing a towel wrapped around his boxers and nothing else.

'Doug?'

'Oh, hey Elliot. Nice outfit.'

'Thanks. What are you?'

'Baby Jesus.'

'Riiigghhhttt. Love the, originality.'

'Thanks.' Doug said beaming

'Anyway, have you seen Carla?'

'What's she dressed as?'

'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.'

'Oh. No I haven't. Mickhead, Beardface and Snoop Dogg are the 3 wise men though.'

Over the crowd there was a yell of 'It's Beardfacé dammit!'

'Awesome. I'll keep looking then.' Elliot smiled at Doug.

'And there's a costume competition!'

'Great' Elliot said sarcastically as she walked away.

-----

'Elliot, you seen Turk or Carla yet?' JD said, walking up to her.

'No, I'm looking though.'

'Me to. Hey have you heard….'

'There's a costume competition? Yeah.'

'Oh come on, don't be so grumpy it'll be awesome. If we say we're one entry we'll be more likely to win, Santa and his elf is much better than just Santa, and just an elf.'

'Can I at least have a name? I don't really appreciate being 'and his elf.''

'OK…. Snap?'

'Snap?'

'Or I suppose you could be Crackle or Pop?'

'OK let me rephrase that, could I have a name that isn't from a Rice Krispies packet?'

'Frodo?'

'Frodo's a hobbit!'

'Legolas?'

'What's with the Lord of the Rings obsession?'

'Just coming up with suggestions. Oh, Elfiot.'

'No.'

'You're obviously going to say no to everything I suggest so I'm calling you Elfiot, or Smelliot if you prefer'

'Elfiot then.' Elliot rolled her eyes. The list of nicknames she had but absolutely hated seemed to be growing.

'Awesome, let's go sign up.' He said, dragging her towards the costume competition stand.

The list was already almost filled with names, so JD quickly wrote down their entry. 'Santa Claus and Elfiot (his favorite elf)'

'I still haven't seen Carla.' Elliot moaned.

'Me neither, but Dr. Cox's costume is awesome.'

'What is he?'

'The Grinch. You know, I had a fantasy where he was the Grinch years ago.' JD looked to the left and his face was clearly distant. Elliot decided instead of standing waiting for him to snap out of it she'd continue her, so far fruitless, search to find Carla.

After she left JD eventually came back and made his usual, senseless muttering, this time of 'Dr. Cox suits green' once he'd noticed Elliot had left he muttered again, 'dammit, I really gotta stop with the long fantasies.'

-----

As JD turned around he saw Janitor, also dressed as Santa, scowling furiously at him.

'What?' JD said, not even bothering to look if the Janitor could be glaring at somebody else.

'You're just trying to ruin my Christmas again aren't you?'

'What have I done?'

'You stole my costume.'

'I didn't steal it, it's just a coincidence that we're wearing the same thing. Actually it's not even a very big coincidence, Santa is a very common Christmas costume.'

'Do you see anyone else wearing the same costume who aren't supposed to?'

That was a good point; JD had noticed that there were only one of each type of Christmas costume. Which was impressive for a hospital of Sacred Heart's size.

'Ummmm'

'I didn't think so. You stole my costume; of course people will presume that it was stupid old Janitor who stole wonderful Scooter's costume so I end up looking like an idiot. Well done, you've successfully ruined by Christmas for the 8th time.'

'You make it sound like it's my hobby.'

That was a mistake.

'That's it isn't it Scooter, it's actually your hobby annoying me and ruining Christmas. You get some kind of perverse enjoyment out of it.'

'I get perverse enjoyment out of annoying you?! Well then you clearly get perverse enjoyment out of tormenting me every day.'

That was definitely a mistake. Possibly a fatal one.

'I've got to go now.' JD squealed as the Janitor started to turn a bright red.

-----

'Ted, have you seen Turk or Carla?' Elliot whined.

'Um, no, I haven't' Ted sighed while rubbing the top of his head.

'OK, what's with the bits of cotton wool stuck on you anyway?'

'I'm a sheep.'

'Oh did you come with Colonel Doctor and Lloyd?'

'No. Why?'

'Well they're shepherds, and you're a sheep.'

'No, I'm just a sheep on my own,'

'Of course, that's really inherently Christmassy' she said sarcastically,

'Really? You think so? Dr. Kelso said I looked like a confused idiot.'

'That's the best he could come up with? And uhhh…… yeah I do, dressing up as a sheep isn't random at all.'

'Thanks Elliot.'

'Just tell me if you see Turk or Carla OK?'

'You think my costume is Christmassy, whatever you want.'

'Thanks.' She smiled pitifully at him and walked away.

_Where the hell is Carla?_

_-----_

'JD!' Elliot yelled over the crowd as she spotted him walking very quickly away from a bright red Janitor.

'Elliot!' he squeaked and immediately veered towards her.

'You found Turk or Carla yet?'

'No, but I think I may have made the Janitor want to kill me.'

'More than the usual wanting to kill you?'

'Well I said he gets perverse enjoyment out of tormenting me every day so I'd say yeah.'

'When will you learn JD? Don't piss off the Janitor, _never_ piss off the Janitor.'

'Yeah I know, I'm an idiot. Hey, maybe Dr. Cox or Jordan have seen Turk or Carla.'

'Well I honestly think they're the only two people in this entire fricking hospital I haven't asked yet so it's worth a shot.'

-----

'Hey Dr. Cox.'

'Oh God, it's Mary and Elf Barbie. And yes Holly I am going with Christmas themed girl's names today. It's my own personal way of getting into the Christmas spirit.'

'Great. Jordan I see you're an angel, that, um, really, fits your character.'

'Shut up Nancy.'

'Anyway, have either of you guys seen Turk or Carla?'

'Yeah they've been waiting for you two over here practically all night.'

'How come we haven't them then?' Elliot whispered to JD.

'I don't know, I've seen Dr. Cox loads of times and I swear I haven't seen Turk or Carla once.'

'I got egg nog.' Carla said cheerily as she came out from the crowd, 'oh hey guys when did you get here?'

'Ages ago, I don't know how we didn't see you over here.'

Suddenly there was a loud cry behind them, after a few seconds Turk emerged from the crowd wearing a massive Christmas tree suit.

'Damn suit, it's impossible to walk anywhere without bashing into anything within a ten feet radius.'

'Hey SCB'

'Oh hey SVB where you been?'

'SVB?'

'Super Vanilla Bear.'

'Of course. I love it.'

'I knew you would.'

'I've been in that massive crowd looking for you.'

'Oh we stayed out here, the suit kind of creates havoc whenever I try to move anywhere.'

'Fair enough.'

They were then all interrupted by a high-pitched noise from the speakers.

'Hey minions.' Kelso greeted, everyone looked towards the stage where there was Kelso stood, obviously fake smiling with a large sign hung over his neck saying 'Scrooge', 'As I'm sure you're all aware there has been a costume competition tonight, we've had lots of entries and I'm sure you all want to know the winners. Without any further ado, in 3rd place is Boon and Josephine as a donkey.'

Boon and Josephine dressed as a donkey, with the back end very noticeable higher than the front, walked up onto the makeshift stage to receive their prize, a handshake from Dr. Kelso.

'Oh yes, I should've said, only first place gets a prize, the hospital can't afford to be spending it's money on congratulating you lot for looking like idiots. Anyway in 2nd place is Dr. Mickhead, Snoop Dogg Attending and Dr. Beardface as the Three Wise Men.'

They didn't even bother to go onto the stage.

'And in 1st place and winning one day off work is Dr. Dorian and Dr. Reid as Santa Claus and Elfiot who is apparently his favorite elf.'

'Yes!' JD yelled, he turned to Elliot with his hand raised for a high five and noticed she was stood there looking completely and utterly embarrassed. 'Come on Elliot.'

'This is going to be the most embarrassing thing of my life.'

'Come on, we won, we've got the best costumes in the whole hospital.'

'And I just got announced as Elfiot, so anyone who hasn't yet seen me dressed as an elf is now going to, and I'll be forever known as Elfiot. I'll be like Colonel Doctor and Snoop and no one will know my real name they'll just call me Elfiot the entire time.'

'No they won't, now come on.'

'At least I get an extra day off work. At least I get an extra day off work.' Elliot repeated to herself as she walked onto the stage.

'Well done you two.' Kelso smiled, 'now that's over all continue your idiotic Christmas party.'

-----

After this Turk, Carla, Elliot, JD, Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso sat at one of the tables at the edge of the cafeteria.

'Don't you guys feel all Christmassy now, everyone's dressed up, me and Elliot are obviously the best dressed up but….'

'Noelle I'm gonna stop you right there, I do not want to hear you incessantly babbling on about how you finally won something.' Dr. Cox interrupted.

'Fine.' JD bowed his head. 'Hey wouldn't it be fun if we each said what out best ever Christmas was?'

'No Stella it wouldn't'

'Stella?' JD asked

'Star in Latin.' Dr. Cox bluntly responded.

'Come on Perry it would be kind of fun, and it might get us all in the Christmas spirit a bit more, it's so hard working at a hospital. JD why don't you go first?' Carla said kindly

'Yes! Well mine was the first Christmas of college, just after I'd met Turk…..'

'_Merry Christmas!' JD brightly greeted Turk._

'_Merry Christmas dude!' Turk said back._

_Turk would usually have gone home for Christmas but it had snowed so much all the roads were closed so he was stuck at college, although JD felt sorry for Turk not being able to see his family it also made his Christmas so much better. Christmases at his house were difficult at the best of times and it was something he'd much rather avoid, having Turk here made Christmas so much better._

_He'd never been very popular at school, or at all popular for that matter, in fact Turk was his first proper friend. And even though Turk had thought he was really geeky and odd at first they'd quickly become good friends. Turk kind of validated him, made him seem less geeky than he actually was and allowed him to make even more friends. It was awesome. And here he was at Christmas, surrounded by constant talking and laughing and not a small amount of alcohol instead of silence or constant arguing depending on what else was happening and having to cope with whatever boyfriend his mom was with that year._

_Long story short, Christmas at college was awesome, and he was sure that he would be friends with Turk for a lot longer yet._

'….and that was my best ever Christmas.'

'Dude.' Turk laughed, 'that was so cheesy.'

'Oh come on, it was my best ever Christmas, isn't it allowed to be a bit cheesy?'

'I suppose. Who wants to go next?'

------

'I will' Elliot said excitedly.

'Go for it Elfiot.' JD joked

'Shut up. Anyway my best ever Christmas was when I was 14…'

'_I'd like to make a toast, to our happy, if dysfunctional family.' Elliot's Dad said._

'_To our happy, if dysfunctional family.' Everyone else repeated._

_Everyone ate their meal, talking loudly for once, then the best bit for Elliot came, her Dad came over to her._

'_Hey Elliot.'_

'_Hi Dad, you having fun?'_

'_Yeah I am, it's nice to have all of us together for once. Anyway, I realise I maybe don't give you as much attention as the boys so how's everything going for you Elliot?'_

_She sat there wide-eyed for a moment, too shocked to speak. Her Dad never cared about how she was, if she was depressed he just gave her a dollar and told her to go and get something nice to make her feel better._

'_Elliot? How are you?' he repeated when she didn't respond for a while._

'_Um, I'm fine.'_

'_Anything more than fine you want to talk to me about?'_

'_Well, right now I'm great.'_

'_But generally? Anything at school that I could help with?'_

'_I'm doing great in all my subjects, its harder work at high school but I'm keeping up. I really want to be a doctor.'_

'_You do?' he said confused,_

'_Yeah dad, I always have, to be like you remember?'_

'_Of course, that's great. You're going to have to work hard to get there and it's good you're doing well. Anything else except work you want to talk to me about while I'm listening?'_

'_Um, well, my best friend is being really bitchy about me at the moment.' Elliot frowned as she realised she talked about these kind of things so little to her dad that he probably didn't even know who her best friend was._

'_Who's that?' There you go._

'_Um, Taylor.'_

'_Brown?'_

'_Yeah, she's usually really nice but she's got something against me at the moment.'_

'_Do you know what?'_

'_No. She just does.'_

'_She's probably just jealous.'_

'_Why would she be jealous of me?'_

'_Because I know neither me or your mother say this enough but you really are very beautiful Elliot.' _

_That was something she had never heard from her dad, and never thought she would. _

'_No Dad, I'm not.'_

'_Yes you are. I don't care about what I usually say to you, you are.'_

'_Thanks.' She stuttered, stunned by his kindness._

'_Just ignore Taylor, she's not worth you getting upset over. Real friends wouldn't bitch about you so move on.'_

'_Thanks Dad, you're right.'_

_He smiled at her, 'Elliot, I know I don't say this enough, I'm not sure if I've ever said it but, I'm proud of you Elliot.' _

_He moved away and she saw their gardener tap her mom on the shoulder. She expected her to move away from the family and go off with him to the potting shed, but instead she simply turned around and said to him quietly._

'_Not now.'_

_For the first, and quite probably last, Christmas they were all together and happy._

'Wow Elliot, your dad was actually _nice _to you?' Carla said surprised.

'Yep, just the once though.'

-----

The Janitor walked up to their table, 'Hey, I was listening into your conversation, you know, nothing unusual, and I heard Scooter and Blonde Doctor say what their best ever Christmases were, Scooter, you're pathetic, Black Surgeon was your first ever friend? Why am I not surprised? And Blonde Doctor, that's a lovely story, it's great that your dad was actually nice to you on Christmas.'

'Thanks Janitor,' Elliot chirped.

'No problem. Anyway, I don't care who wanted to say theirs next I want you all to shut up and listen to me. Some of you may not think I ever had any other ambitions but to be a Janitor but back on the Christmas of '71 when I was 9, I had big dreams…'

'_Come on children, are you all ready for the big nativity performance? Angels those wings are looking a bit wonky.' Mrs. Jenkins, the teacher in charge of the school nativity called out to all of the children, dressed in their nativity costumes._

_A young Janitor stood proudly next to the young girl playing Mary, dressed as Joseph, running through his lines in his head. He was determined to give a good performance, acting was his ultimate dream and the school nativity was as good a place as any to start._

'_OK Joseph and Mary, you're up have fun out there kids.' Mrs. Jenkins beamed at them._

_As he walked out onto the stage he felt the bright lights on his face, he grinned letting that complete happiness and confidence he felt on stage come to him before getting into character._

_He acted the hell out of Joseph, he was a million times better than all the other kids, especially that angel who fell over and started crying. Amateur. And as he took his bow at the end he made a wish. That when he was older he could do this for a living, that was his dream, the one thing he wanted above all other things in the world. One day, he promised himself, he'd act in a Harrison Ford movie._

'Janitor that's amazing.' Elliot said wiping a tear from her eye.

'Really?' JD said, clearly unimpressed that everyone preferred the Janitor's story to his. 'Wait a second, you've lied so many times, is that story even true?'

'What so it's to far fetched that a Janitor was in a nativity when he was 9 and was actually good and had dreams?'

'No that's not what I meant, I was just saying.'

'Of course, it's never what you meant is it?' The Janitor retorted and stormed off.

'Good job JD.' Carla said.

'Well he's lied loads I was just checking!' JD defended himself.

'But that wasn't an unrealistic story at all. And I think it's cute that he wanted to be in a movie with Harrison Ford and made that dream come true.' Elliot argued back.

'Whatever. Who wants to go next?'

-----

'I will!' Carla said happily.

'Awesome.' JD replied.

'Well my best ever Christmas, I always love Christmas but I guess my best was 2 years ago, Issy's first Christmas….'

'_Hey Issy!' Carla cried as she woke up her 5 month old daughter. 'It's your first ever Christmas, I promise you'll love it.'_

'_Baby, we have to start having proper Christmas traditions now we have a daughter, so shall we go to Mass first?' Turk asked._

'_Yeah.'_

_They all got quickly dressed and headed out for the Christmas morning church service, Issy of course cried every time a carol started so Carla seemed to spend the entire time running in and out of the church to get her to quieten down, but all the same she enjoyed her first traditionally Christmassy moment with her own family._

_After Mass they all headed back to the apartment and opened the presents in Issy's stocking, even though she was too little to really appreciate it they felt they should start these traditions young. _

_After eating their breakfast they all opened their presents._

'_Turk it's beautiful! Thank you so much.' Carla exclaimed after opening one of hers and finding a delicate silver necklace with a small diamond on the end._

'_Don't mention it, I'm just glad you like it.'_

'_Oh, I love it.' Carla said and moved over to kiss him. _

'_Open that one.' She said pointing to a large cube shaped package._

_Turk eagerly ripped off the wrapping paper and found a box set of all 6 seasons of 'Sanford and Son' _

'_Yes! That's awesome! You do realise this means JD and I will stay up for hours watching this?'_

'_Yeah but I figured that it's Christmas, you have to be generous.'_

'_Thank you so much! Is it Issy's turn now?'_

'_Yeah, here you go Issy.'_

_Issy took the present and continued to look at it confused._

'_Aw, isn't that sweet Turk!' Carla squealed. _

'_Here you go.' She said as she ripped the wrapping paper a little, trying to give Issy the right idea._

_She kind of did, as she ripped a huge chunk of paper off and began to eat it._

'_No Issy, don't eat the wrapping paper, just rip it off.' Carla laughed while ripping the rest off for her and handing over her first Christmas present, a zebra which you pulled it's legs and it played different tunes._

_After some demonstrating of what to do Issy sat on the floor happily playing with the zebra and laughing when it played music._

_It took much longer than usual to open all the presents as trying to get Issy to open her own presents proved impossible, and after she got each one it seemed to take forever to get her to part with it so she could at least attempt to open the next one. But eventually they were done, and thanks to a large amount of running out of the room to cook on Carla's part lunch was ready, by now JD and Elliot had arrived to eat lunch with them so they were all sat around the table._

_The day continued with a lot of talking and laughing, and from Issy some crying when you tried to take whatever toy she was playing with away from her, but eventually the end of the day came and Carla collapsed into bed next to Turk, completely and utterly exhausted._

'_You OK?' Turk asked._

'_Yeah, I'm great.' Carla smiled happily at her memories of the day before falling asleep almost immediately._

'I remember that. Issy loved those toys didn't she?' Elliot laughed.

'Yeah she did.' Carla said, still smiling at the memory of that Christmas. 'Dr. Cox, you haven't said yours yet, why don't you go next?'

'No.' Dr. Cox replied.

'Do you still need some time to think about it?' JD asked.

'No. I am not saying my best ever Christmas, Christmas sucks, all of mine have.'

'Oh come on, that can't be true, you must have had one good one, with Jack, Jenny and Jordan maybe?' Elliot tried to persuade him.

'Nope. I hate Christmas. I hate sitting here listening to your candy coated Christmases, in fact I don't know why I don't just leave, of course that would involve walking into a massive crowd of people who are going to wish me a Merry Christmas endlessly, so what to do, what to do, what to do? I'll tell you what, I'll continue to sit here and pretend to listen while I am in fact in my happy place and not aware of a single word any of you are saying. And I will, under no circumstances say what my best Christmas was. They all sucked.'

-----

'Great, well seeing as I do have a decent Christmas I feel I may as well get mine over with.' Kelso said after Dr. Cox's rant.

'Great go for it Dr. Kelso!' JD encouraged.

'Well my best ever Christmas was years ago long before I met any of you, Harrison was 16 I think….'

'_Merry Christmas Dad!' Harrison greeted happily._

'_Merry Christmas Harrison.' A much younger Dr. Kelso said back._

'_Here open this.' Harrison said, handing over his gift to his father._

'_No son, you open some of yours first.'_

'_No really Dad, open it.'_

'_OK then. Thanks Harrison.'_

'_You haven't even opened it yet.' Harrison laughed._

_Dr. Kelso opened the present, a small box and inside he found a single golf ball. _

'_Um, thanks son.'_

'_Look under the golf ball.'_

_He did, he found two pieces of paper, one said that his membership fee to his country club had been paid for the next year._

'_I know you always get a bit behind on your payments Dad. I thought I'd pay for them for a while.' Harrison grinned._

'_Thank you so much.' He grinned back as he read the other piece of paper, it was a small note from Harrison saying 'Look under the coffee table.' He got onto his hands and knees and looked underneath, there was a brand new golf club. The exact kind he'd been wanting for ages but hadn't yet got round to stealing the money from the hospital to buy it._

'_Son, it's the exact kind I wanted, how did you know? And where did you get the money for it?' _

'_I looked at your golf magazines, this one was ringed so I guessed you wanted it. I've been saving all year so I could pay for something really nice.'_

'_Son you didn't have to do that.'_

'_Yeah I did Dad, you're always so supportive of me, and you do so much for me, I just wanted to say thank you.'_

'_Thank you so much Harrison, you're the best son ever.'_

'_Don't mention it Dad, you're the best Dad ever.'_

'_Here, open one of yours.'_

_Harrison did so. He grinned as he held the tickets to see 'Annie' on Broadway._

'_Thanks so much Dad! 'Annie's my favorite!' Harrison leapt up and hugged him back._

_Dr. Kelso knew his son was very camp, probably gay, but he didn't care because he was such a good kid. That would never change._

'_I know son, I know.' He muttered as he returned the hug._

_-----_

'Well I guess that leaves me then, seeing as Dr. Cox is in his uh, happy place.' Turk said glancing sideways at Dr. Cox who was sat with a completely vacant expression on his face.

'Yeah it does.' Carla nodded.

'OK then, my best ever Christmas was when I was 21, I'd been busy with college so I hadn't been back at home for Christmas for a few years and being back was, different…..'

_Turk stood at the door of his home, he took a deep breath to ready himself for the inevitable arguing that would occur and knocked on the door._

_The door swung open and he was immediately taken into a hug._

'_Chris, you came.' His mother said, her voice muffled as she was still hugging him uncomfortably tight._

'_Yeah Mom I came.' Turk replied, trying to push her off him._

'_Last Christmas with you seems like such a long time ago.'_

'_I know, I've been so busy.'_

'_Training to be a surgeon must be hard huh?'_

'_Yeah it really is, I like it though. So who's here?'_

'_Everyone, all your aunts and uncles and cousins.'_

'_Joy.' He said sarcastically._

'_It's great isn't it? The one time of the year we all get together.'_

'_Mom we all get together for Thanksgiving and Easter and even Halloween.'_

'_Well, Christmas is the best.'_

'_They're all the same Mom, they start happily and soon enough everyone argues and someone will cry, something will get burned and at the end we'll all make up again because we know in a few months we'll have to do it all again.'_

'_Christopher, are you saying I always burn things?'_

'_No Mom, that's not what I'm saying.' Turk sighed, frustrated._

'_Good. Now come on in, it's cold outside.'_

'_Hey Uncle Leonard, Aunt Diane.' Turk said awkwardly as he entered, greeting the first two people he saw in a room full with his entire family._

'_Hey, if it isn't Chris.' Someone yelled out._

_Turk turned around and saw his brother Kevin grinning at him._

'_How's that college I'm paying for going buddy? I hope you're working hard, I don't pay for all that for you to slack off.'_

'_It's great, trust me I'm not slacking off.'_

'_Good. Anyway, nice to see you on Christmas dude.' He said as he pulled him into a hug._

_This wasn't going too badly so far, but it was only a matter of time before his entire family would erupt into heated debate about something completely pointless._

'_OK everyone's here and lunch is ready.' Turk's mom called out to the room, causing everyone to flood into the dining room where a huge table filled with delicious looking food was set out._

_He sat down and looked at the massive turkey, this would probably start an argument, someone would think it was overcooked, someone else would think it needed a little longer in the oven and Turk's mom would get annoyed at everyone for insulting her cooking._

_As everyone began to eat Turk started to as well, although slowly, waiting for an argument. However after 5 minutes of eating no one had made anything but positive comments and everyone was being friendly, there wasn't even a slight argument happening, let alone the full blown chaos of quarrelling he was used to._

_Soon the first course out of the way with no arguments. That had to be a record._

'_Um, sorry there might not be enough pudding for everyone, I burned some of it.' Turk's mom announced._

_Turk noticeably winced now, that would undoubtedly begin an argument, but instead the whole room exploded into laughter, with many people making comments like, 'it just wouldn't be Christmas without something being burnt.'_

_After this Turk began to relax into the Christmas spirit, he enjoyed the whole afternoon surrounded by his family. For the first time in his entire life they'd gone a whole day without any arguments. That really was a record._

_-----_

Just as Turk finished Dr. Cox suddenly shook his head.

'Something wonderful has happened.' He said.

'Well, everyone's finished their stories.' Dr. Kelso returned.

'That'd be it.'

'Perry please say yours.' Carla begged.

'Yeah, please Dr. Cox.' JD joined in, giving Dr. Cox his best puppy dog eyes.

'No. Like I said all my Christmases have sucked.'

'Not even one good one?' Elliot asked.

'Not one. My dad was an abusive alcoholic, he drank even more at Christmas, how could I have had a good one?'

'After your Dad?' Turk asked.

'Nope. He scarred my memory of Christmas.'

'Wasn't there one Christmas where he didn't get drunk?' JD questioned, refusing to give up.

'No. Well, there was one. Didn't make it much better though, I still spent most of the time locked in my room for safety.'

'Well he wasn't drunk so it can't have been that bad.'

'Fine I'll tell you about it, it's not all smiles and rainbows like all of yours though.' He warned.

'I was 6 I think, maybe 7……'

_Perry was sat with Paige in his room, his bedroom door locked for protection against his father, opening the presents his mom had left in a pile for him. _

_He couldn't help but smile despite the general awfulness of his life as he opened the toy stethoscope that he'd been bugging his mom for endlessly._

_He and Paige spent all morning in his room, playing with their toys. His mom would occasionally come in to see how they were but his father usually called her fairly frequently._

_Eventually there was a knock on the door. His mom spoke through the door,_

'_Perry, Paige, lunch is ready.'_

'_Do we have to come out Mom?' he moaned,_

'_Yes Perry you have to come out.'_

'_But what about Dad?'_

'_He's OK at the moment, you'll be fine.'_

'_Come on Paige.' He said, trying to sound brave and confident that his father wouldn't hurt them for his little sister's sake, but deep down feeling that familiar sensation of dread and paralysing fear building up in the bottom of his stomach._

_They headed downstairs; his father sat smiling slightly at them. Perry shuddered, as soon as this was over he would run up to his room with Paige and lock the door, maybe lean some stuff against it for extra security._

_He ate as quickly as he could, trying to enjoy the food but really his stomach was churning with fear so much he felt sick._

_His dad was always violent, Christmas was the worst though._

_He could never understand why all the other kids looked forward to Christmas so much. For him it was just another day, but worse. Sure he got some presents, and the lunch was always nice, except he was usually too terrified to care as he watched his dad down glass after glass of wine, then move onto beer, then a variety of spirits. All the time becoming more and more drunk, that would inevitably lead to him and Paige being beaten up by their own father, which was usually substantially worse than normal._

_He always had it the worst as well. He would try to protect Paige, do anything to keep her from getting badly hurt, even if that meant he took her beating for her before his father passed out from the alcohol._

_As soon as he was finished eating his lunch he asked to be excused. His mother agreed and he dragged Paige back up the stairs to his room, locking the door and dragging everything he could move against the door. Hopefully in a drunk state his father wouldn't manage to get through it. All the same he grabbed Paige and hugged her tightly, curling up into the smallest space possible in the corner. Another defence tactic, if he looked small hopefully his father wouldn't notice him if he got through the door._

_He stayed like that for a long time, he couldn't tell how long. But eventually he heard a knock on the door._

_His muscles instinctively tightened even more, his clenched his eyes shut. Trying to get his mind to block out any pain that might come._

'_Perry?' he heard at the door._

_It was definitely his dad, but he didn't sound drunk. The word came out clearly, as 'Perry' instead of 'Pewwy,' the slurred, drunken version he was far more used to hearing. His voice was also oddly soft, a tone he definitely wasn't used to hearing. He didn't sound angry at all._

_Still, even if his father didn't sound drunk it was always better to be on the safe side. He could have mastered his voice when he was drunk, it was unlikely, Perry knew that. But it never hurt to be on the safe side._

'_Perry.' His father repeated._

_He definitely didn't sound drunk, and he didn't even sound impatient even though he had just had to repeat himself._

'_Look, Perry, I know I'm not the greatest father; hell I'm probably one of the worst. And I understand why you won't open the door. And I don't expect this to make anything any better, I'd be really surprised if it did and you're probably far too forgiving if it does. Anyway, I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, and say that I'm really sorry for the way I am. I'm going to try to change, I really am. I don't want to hurt you or Paige anymore, you two are my kids and despite everything I do, I…. I love you two. I really do. So I'm so sorry, so unbelievably sorry and I've got a little present for each of you here. So I'll just leave it by the door. Come out and get it whenever you want. I'm sorry Perry, really I am.'_

_Perry stayed perfectly still as he listened to his dad put something down and move away. He stayed in the same position for about 15 minutes before curiosity got the best of him and he began to move everything away from the door to see what his dad had left for him._

_Once he was finished he slowly opened the door, looking around to check that this wasn't some trap his father had set to get him out of his room. _

_Then he looked down, there were two wrapped packages, one read Perry and the other Paige. _

_He bent over slowly, still glancing around him, picked them up and quickly shut and locked the door again. He piled everything back up, in case his father had gone to get drunk again, before sitting down on the floor with his package and handed Paige's over to her._

_First he watched Paige open hers, it was a fabric doll with a big heart saying 'I love you' written on it. Clenched in it's hand and sellotaped on was a delicate gold bracelet with a tag attached, Perry took the tag off and read it out to Paige._

'_Dear Paige, _

_I hope you like the doll, that's a small present for now, but this bracelet is the bigger present. I'm sure you won't appreciate it yet but keep it in a safe place and I hope you'll love it when you get older. I love you Paige. I really hope you like the present._

_Lots of love_

_Dad x'_

_Paige sat with a blank expression for a moment, then moved on to hugging the doll. When she was happily occupied Perry opened his._

_He found a lab coat, not a child's toy lab coat, a real lab coat. God knows how his dad had got one of them. He tried it on immediately, it was way too big but Perry couldn't care less. He felt like a real doctor in it. _

_He reached his hand into the pocket and it hit something hard. He pulled out a photo frame with a picture of his dad holding a baby, presumably him. Again there was a tag on it, but when he read it this one simply said 'Look at the back of the picture.'_

_So Perry sat down on his floor and worked off the back of the photo frame and began to read the note._

'_Dear Perry,_

_First of all Merry Christmas. I hope you like the lab coat (don't worry I didn't steal it off anyone) I know you want to be a doctor more than anything. Just to make sure you know, that picture is of me and you when you were a baby. I know I'm really not a great father at all, even at the best times, but I think you should know that I do love you. I just have some other issues that I can never seem to work out. I'm so sorry for everything I do to you and Paige, you two really don't deserve anything like that. I really don't deserve having you two for children. Perry, I just have to say, don't let anything, especially me, hold you back from your dream. One more thing, I'm so proud of you, you always protect Paige, you're clearly the best brother she could ask for. You're a smart kid to aren't you? Anyway, enjoy the presents, and despite me always try to have a very Merry Christmas._

_Love and apologies_

_Dad x'_

_Perry wiped away a tear after reading this note. He gazed at the picture for what seemed like hours. _

_His mother knocked on the door and told him to go to bed. He didn't even change out of his lab coat, he just put the photo by his bedside and stared at it._

_The presents and notes didn't make anything better, Perry knew that. He was a smart kid, and thanks to his dad not remotely naïve. His dad would probably never change, but just today, Perry had seen the kind side of him. The side that explained why his mom could ever marry him, the side that explained why they were still together._

_Things would never get any better until he could leave, but for today he could be happy. He could pretend he was just like any other kid, that his dad was kind and supportive like any other._

_For that one night, he fell asleep happy._

After Dr. Cox had finished his story everyone was in silence for a few moments. Then JD moved over to Dr. Cox and put his hand on his shoulder.

'I'm sorry you had to go through that.'

'Get. Off. Me.' Dr. Cox growled back.

'OK.' JD squealed.

'Well, after that wonderful Christmas story, it's late and I think we should close this party now.' Dr. Kelso announced.

-----

After he had announced it over the speakers everyone began to grab their things and leave, with lots of hugging and wishing of 'Merry Christmas.'

Soon Turk, Carla, JD, Elliot and Dr. Cox were leaving as well.

'Merry Christmas guys.' Turk said smiling.

'Merry Christmas.' Everyone else echoed back.

JD looked at Dr. Cox and decided to make a bold move.

'Merry Christmas Dr. Cox. Hope you enjoy it.'

'Thanks Newbie, you to.' He said before walking out of the door.

'Wow.' JD said surprised by Dr. Cox's serious return of the greeting.

'Come on JD let's go I need to get out of this costume and make sure it's somewhere in your apartment where you'll never find it again.' Elliot said, dragging JD out of the door.

-----

The next day JD walked through the door, as promised, still dressed as Santa.

'Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas.' He yelled.

Elliot, who was stood at the nurse's station reading a chart, looked at him and immediately burst out laughing.

'Oh my God JD! You actually dressed up as Santa for work. Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso are going to kill you.'

'Oh well. I promised I'd come into work dressed as Santa if you came to the party last night, so here I am.'

'Newbie!' Dr. Cox yelled from down the corridor.

'Oh dear.' JD whispered to Elliot. Then he turned around to look at Dr. Cox and saw that he was laughing.

'Newbie, why are you still dressed as Santa?' he said through the laughter.

'I said I would if Elliot came to the party last night.'

'You're an idiot.' Dr. Cox laughed before walking into a patient's room.

'Well that went down well.' JD said. 'Just Dr. Kelso to deal with now.'

With perfect timing Dr. Kelso walked up to the nurse's station.

'Dr. Dorian?'

'Yes sir.'

'Good to see you're getting into the Christmas spirit, but go change.'

JD nodded and walked off to get changed into his scrubs. It didn't last long, but dressing up as Santa for work was fun.

-----

**Merry Christmas everyone :)**


End file.
